Hill tore ACL

The knee injury suffered by Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill on Monday night was every bit as bad as it looked.

Hill tore the ACL and other ligaments in his knee, remains in the hospital and will have surgery today, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel had already confirmed that Hill dislocated his knee. A dislocated knee is a very serious injury, far worse than the more common dislocated kneecap.

It’s too soon to say what the future holds for the 31-year-old Hill, but suffice to say that a dislocated knee with major ligament damage is a devastating injury.

 

Following Tuesday’s surgery on his badly injured knee, there are reasons for optimism that Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill will make a full recovery by next season. His status in Miami, however, has become much more complicated following the injury.

Even before Monday night, Miami likely would not have been inclined to pay Hill $36 million in 2026. On the third day of the league year in March 2026, $11 million of his $29.9 million base salary for 2026 becomes fully guaranteed. Currently, none of it is guaranteed, for injury or otherwise. The Dolphins also owe him a $5 million roster bonus on the third day of the 2026 league year.

Absent a dramatic restructuring that takes his injury and recovery into account, it’s impossible to imagine the Dolphins not releasing him before they owe him $16 million.

And here’s where it gets quirky. Hill has a fully-guaranteed $1.8 million per-game roster bonus for 2025. But those amounts must be earned, by being on the active game-day roster.

He has earned four of 17 installments. Another $1.376 million remains. If the Dolphins cut Hill now, he’ll get the money. If they cut him after the season, he won’t.

The best financial outcome for Hill? To be released this week. The Dolphins would remain responsible for the costs of his rehab, and he’d get the fully-guaranteed $1.376 million in addition to his remaining base salary. The worst financial outcome for Hill would entail remaining on the roster through the end of the season, not earning the remaining $1.376 million in per-game roster bonuses, and being cut before the Dolphins owe him another $16 million.

If the Dolphins plan to terminate Hill’s contract before March 2026, it would be an admirable gesture to give him the remaining $1.376 million in per-game roster bonuses. Still, they are not required to do it.

Overall, the injury could cost Hill $17.376 million in salary and bonuses. If he’d been cut before March 2026 while healthy, he likely would have gotten a solid deal with a new team as a free agent. Instead, he’ll need to get healthy and convince a new team to roll the dice financially on a return to full health by the start of next season.

His main focus for now is and will be getting healthy. And it’s not impossible that the Dolphins and Hill will find a middle ground on a mutually fair revision to what would be the final year of his current contract.

But the situation serves as a clear reminder to all players that they should try to get paid as much as they can while they can, and that the only true guarantee is money in hand.

It’s also a reminder to those who immediately dub players greedy or selfish that every NFL team will eventually move on from every player on the roster. The opportunities for players to make market-level money are few. For all players, the window to get paid at or close to market value is potentially fleeting.